Unlikely and Unexpected
by Buick Regal Racecar 56
Summary: The last person Kori Turbowitz expected to date was a racer. Especially Chick Hicks. Surprisingly, she enjoyed dating him. Reputation be damned, he was nice to hang around with.


_A story about a ship a decade in the making. One of my favorite silly Cars ships is Kori Turbowitz, the RSN reporter that Doc called in the first movie, and Chick Hicks. So I finally got around to writing a story with them._

If there was one thing Kori Turbowitz knew, it was her way around a racetrack infield. She was ahead of schedule with the racers RSN wanted to hear from today, so had a detour of her own for the moment, and her camera car, Todd, had agreed to wait for her back near the rest of the RSN infield crew. Granted, with a knowing grin as she hurried off, but she could easily ignore that.

Even with the press badge on her side, the racers she was making her way past were too preoccupied with their own prerace rituals to really notice her without a camera tagging along, and she was grateful for that. As much as her job pretty much entailed interviewing anyone when she had a chance, that was the last thing she wanted to be assumed to be doing for the moment. She had other important matters to attend to.

Finally, she caught sight of the one car she was looking for, surrounded by his pit crew. Before she had a chance to get his attention, he saw her, and she decided to just stay put for the moment. He made a gesture to his pit and started her way; his crew chief gave her a little wave, which she returned. His crew were nicer than most gave credit for, since they certainly did a good job at mimicking his cocky attitude.

Certainly, when she became a reporter for RSN, she didn't see herself dating a racer. Particularly not Chick Hicks. But here she was, with perhaps the most hated racer on the track.

"Hey." The greeting was a bit devoid of his usual brashness, something she'd picked up on in their many before race talks. He was usually in a sort of distracted mode, especially this season with his attempts at trying to actually improve his image. It never bothered her.

"Hey yourself. I was ahead of schedule, figured I'd stop by."

"Thanks. I mean, I could win this race without having to see you, but hey, guess it's the thought that counts, y'know?" She laughed; he very easily threw on the heavily narcissistic bit that everyone knew on camera, and it was usually at her expense. He had this thing for out of the blue going into full 'I'm better than everyone, including you, and I'm pretty sure you know it' mode, and it usually made her laugh. Which usually got him to smile, and she had to admit, even Chick Hicks could look somewhat decent with an actual smile.

"You're such an ass."

"I know." She gave him a quick nuzzle, which he actually- for once- returned. He wasn't the most affectionate car, and she didn't mind. It was easier to maintain an air of professionalism in public that way. Which was probably why there was very little public knowledge that they were even a couple.

"Good luck out there, alright?"

"Thanks." There seemed to be little else to say- he was still distracted, as usual.

"I'm gonna get back to Todd. As much as I'm sure I'm ahead of schedule, it couldn't hurt to see if I can get some extra stuff in before race time." It was almost a surprise that he gave her another nuzzle.

"Go report the hell out of something." She laughed and returned the nuzzle.

"You got it. See you after the race."

"Same, babe." She hurried back off through the infield back to Todd.

No, she never in her life would have seen herself dating Chick Hicks, but it definitely was surprising.

—–

It had been Chick who had asked her out, way back in the middle of the season after that tiebreaker race where he so expertly destroyed his own image. To her credit, she'd picked up on how frustrated and annoyed he was at answering thinly veiled accusations of cheating and trying to kill other racers, and after a particularly vicious interview with one reporter that had almost ended in a fight, she'd noticed he actually seemed, well, upset.

She was used to him being this sort of beacon of ego and brazenness that was unfazed by anything a reporter could throw at him, but the comments from that reporter seemed to have finally gotten to him. Because the time she interviewed him after that, he'd lost that edge he'd always had and seemed to just bitter and angry. There was no fun to his answers, just a short, clipped attitude that was much different than she was used to dealing with.

So when the camera was off and before he could make a retreat, she'd asked if he was okay, and never, NEVER, had she seen anyone go from angry to shocked that fast. Hell, she'd surprised herself, because she'd been hesitating about asking that the whole interview, and apparently part of her had decided to hell with it, she'd do it.

He hadn't had much of a reply to her inquiry, and she didn't blame him. They hardly knew each other outside of interviews, and that wasn't unusual. She knew a lot about his racing career (she had enjoyed racing for far longer than being a reporter and knew a lot about the sport's history, and tried to use tidbits she remembered about the current field in interviews if relevant) but she didn't really know him outside of those strictly professional interviews.

But she'd been able to tell that inquiry might have been the first from someone else, and it'd made an impression.

Such an impression, in fact, that he'd asked her after the next race if she'd like to go on a date.

And for whatever reason, she said yes.

Frankly, that date had been a disaster. Neither of them had really been able to figure out what to say to the other- it was unusual for reporters and racers to hang out off the track, and they were no exception. She hadn't been able to figure out why he'd even asked her- they'd never had any real interaction, but she'd been willing to maybe give it a chance, but there was nothing between them that first date.

So for whatever reason, they ended up going on a second date. Maybe it was because she was bored, maybe it was because she felt like giving him a second chance, but whatever it was, something clicked that date.

He'd admitted that she was the first to ask if he was alright outside of his pit crew. And she'd admitted that she was used to a more vibrant personality from him. To which he'd readily responded

"Well babe, if you're lookin' for vibrant, you came to the right damn car. I mean, I'm bright green, that ought to be vibrant enough for ya, right?"

And it had made her laugh, and that was when she also discovered that when he actually smiled, without any sort of bravado or arrogance behind him, he was alright.

They'd ended up talking for hours, about everything and nothing. A lot of it was centered on racing; it was interesting to hear about things that happened on the track that happened before her reporting career from a source who'd been there. And the stories about his dad- Mick Hicks- were great, because there was a lot of stories about The King and Darrell Cartrip that were stories she never would have dreamed of hearing.

And by the time they realized that they had been talking for six hours, she gladly would have stayed for more.

That had been a year ago. They'd discovered in the off season that they actually both lived in the same LA apartment building, just a few floors apart. About half of their dates were movie dates; it turned out that either they spent the whole time talking, or were both content to just spend time in silence together. He'd confided in her that he was thinking of changing up his racing style in an attempt to save what was left of his racing career. So far it didn't seem to be working, and she knew he wasn't willing to admit that yet. Despite dating outside the track, their on camera interviews were just as professional as always. She didn't want to tell him that there wasn't much of a way to salvage his career unless he admitted he'd won the Piston Cup the wrong way, but she'd hinted at it.

He'd picked up on the hints and surprisingly had not been offended, just accepting of the fact that she was in that majority. It surprised her that that didn't bother him, but then again, he was little bit less of an overwhelming personality around her and that was fine by her.

For the moment, she had no idea where this relationship was really going, but she did know one thing- she actually enjoyed their relationship, and that was something that even a year ago she wouldn't have thought she'd ever admit.


End file.
